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Monday, May 20, 2013

V7:Chapter Twelve-Double Dilemma

Volume Seven

Chapter
Twelve

Double
Dilemma

In which Dodger has to choose

The
train came to rest a half a mile from the cave proper. There was little that
could be done about cloaking their arrival in the noisy thing, so Dodger
figured they might as well get as close as they could to save the work of
walking. Besides, Rex was expecting Dodger, or else he wouldn’t have set up
this little meeting. The dog had given Dodger six hours to find the kids, but
didn’t say how long he expected Dodger to take. So what was the point of
pretending they possessed the advantage of surprise?

Dodger
groaned. “Yes, sir, you can look all you like. But watch the touching.”

“She
belong to someone?” Al asked.

“She
belongs to herself, but her heart is spoken for.”

Very nicely put, Boon said.

“Who?”
Al asked, then made a retching sound. “It ain’t that skinny feller is it?”

“No!”
Dodger gagged a bit himself at the idea. “No, sir. Her beau is … away. Won’t be
back for a while. But he will be back one day. Hopefully soon.”

“Then
don’t that make her ripe for the pickin’? Seems like her man missing from her life
is just the open window you need to slide in and take his place, even if just
to give her a little comfort while he’s away.”

Harmless, you say? Boon asked.

“No,
sir,” Dodger said. “Besides, that ship sailed.”

What is that supposed to mean? Boon shouted in
Dodger’s mind.

“Come
again, son?” Al asked.

“I
mean to say,” Dodger said, “that there was a time when I thought I might have a
chance with her, but fate proved otherwise. She isn’t interested in me in that
manner. We are just friends.”

Thank you for that, Boon said. His
presence faded away as he finally went to scout ahead.

“Well
it ain’t my place to say, son,” Al said. “But maybe if you tried a little
harder, then you could … Do you hear that?” Al stopped walking and held his
thin hand to his ear, cupping the air for whatever it was he heard.

“Little
Rodger?” Dodger asked the back of Al’s escaping form. “Great gravy, please
don’t let that mean what I think it does.” With another sigh, Dodger set off
after Al.

As
they came closer to the mouth of the cave, Dodger was able to hear the child’s
cries more clearly. The kid wailed and wailed and wailed, only pausing for the
briefest of breaths. Al ducked behind a large boulder just at the entrance.
Dodger fell in line behind him. Just beyond the mouth of the cave, Dodger could
hear a woman’s voice complaining about the weather, the wait and everything in
between. He peered over the rock to see Kitty strutting back and forth across
the cavern.

“What’s
the plan here?” Al asked.

“How
deep does this cave go?” Dodger asked. They barely had to whisper, for the
crying of the child and the complaints of the redhead covered their voices.

“Only
a few hundred yards. Then it splits into two other sections.”

The children are in the smaller caves,
Dodger,
Boon said, joining them again.

“Sections?”
Dodger asked.

“Yeah,”
Al said. “Like rooms.”

This is a trap, Boon said. That redhead of yours is guarding the
entrance to both, and she has about five of those bulldog men with her.

“Rex
will have isolated the kids,” Dodger said. “One in each room.”

“You
think?” Al asked.

“Yes.
That sounds like something he would take advantage of.”

I only had a quick peek down each side, Boon said, but as far as I can tell, each child is in
a contraption of some kind. They have timers on them. The timers are not
functioning. Yet.

“He
will have them set up in a trap too,” Dodger said. “My last run-in with him, he
rigged three bombs, and I had to choose the right …” Dodger recognized the
obvious as soon as he said it. “A test. This is another test.”

“A
test?” Al asked. “What kind of test.”

“I’ll
explain later.” Dodger pulled his gun, set the dial to a single shot, and
nodded to Al. “Let’s go see how this plays out. You ready?”

Al
readied his gun as well and nodded in return.

Go make sure the kids are unharmed, Dodger said to
Boon.

Aye, sir, Boon said, and
faded again.

Dodger
held up three fingers, then two, then one. He stood and stepped away from the
boulder, coming to rest right in the dead center of the cave’s opening. Al
joined him, taking to Dodger’s left side.

Kitty
had parked herself on a rock, looking bored out of her pretty redheaded skull. The
bulldogs were playing cards, rather than guarding anyone or anything.

“Ugh!”
Kitty groaned. “Can’t someone stop that thing?”

“Boss
says let it keep doin’ it,” one of the bulldogs said without looking up from
his cards.

“Stupid
kids. I wasn’t hired to babysit a bunch of dead ducks.”

“I
reckon you weren’t hired for your smarts, neither,” Dodger said.

The
redhead jumped up and pulled her gun, training it on the men at the entrance.

The
bulldog men leaped up too, scattering cards everywhere as they returned with
haste to their posts—two at each entrance, and one backing Kitty. None of the
dogs was armed, as far as Dodger could tell, though one dog on each side
retrieved a small black box from his respective cave entrance.

“Well,
well,” Kitty said loudly as she hopped down from her bolder and stepped closer
to the pair. “Mr. Dodger. It sure is about time. And Mr. Jackson, pleasure to
see you again.” She narrowed her eyes at the old man. “Ain’t you lookin’ well
for someone who spent so much time under Grinder’s skillful hand?”

“What
can I say?” Al asked in a shout over the boy’s cries. “I heal quicker than you
young things.”

Kitty
shrugged as if to say she really couldn’t care less. “I guess you’re here for
the brats?”

“Where
are they?” Dodger asked.

“One
is down each tunnel,” Kitty said.

“I’ll
take the left,” Al said. “You take the right.”

Dodger
nodded, but he knew Kitty had no intention of letting either man pass.

Proving
him right, she pulled her second gun and shoved the weapons at Dodger and Al.
“Either of you move, and I’ll blow your brains out.”

“We’ve
all got guns, sugar cakes,” Al said. “What’s stopping us from just killing you
where you stand?”

“Ask
him,” she said, eyeing Dodger. “He’s played this game before.”

“Dodger?”
Al asked.

“You
see the black boxes those dogs have?” Dodger asked.

Al
squinted into the cave and nodded. “I reckon I do. What are they?”

“My
guess is that they control either explosives or something attached to the
kids.”

“Why
can’t it be both?” Kitty asked with a pout, then broke into a wicked laugh.

“What
do you want from us?” Al asked. “We solved the riddle. We figured out where the
kids were.”

“That
was just your first task,” Kitty said. “Rex has another little exam for his
favorite student.”

“There
is nothing that mutt can teach anyone,” Dodger said.

“Save
how to keep fleas from biting your rump,” Al said.

“You
couldn’t be more wrong,” Kitty said.

The girl is unconscious, but alive, Boon said,
returning again. She is to the right, and
rigged into what looks like an iron maiden.

“He
knows so much,” Kitty continued. “So many exciting things.”

The boy child is sealed in an iron box
to the left,
Boon said. His cries are projected
through a horn. He can’t have much air left at the rate he is crying.

Kitty
licked her lips. “The world will be a much better place with him at the helm,
that’s for sure.”

That
settled that, then. Feng was right. The mutt wanted to rule the world.

With
a nod, Kitty holstered her guns, then raised her hands to either sides of her
and snapped.

The
bulldogs with the control boxes jolted upright to attention. “Yes, ma’am! We’re
ready, ma’am!”

“Go
on,” Kitty said. “Tempt me to do it. I would love nothing more than to shut
that whining brat up for good. The girl or the boy. Your call.” She grinned an
evil smirk. “Your fault too.”

“I
said we aren’t-” Dodger started.

“The
girl,” Al said over him.

“What?”
Dodger asked.

That boy will suffocate if we don’t get
him out of the box, Boon
said.

“The
girl,” Al repeated.

“You
don’t have to do this. You don’t have to choose.”

Al
ignored Dodger and said, “The girl. Please.”

“Are
you certain?” Kitty asked.

“Al?”
Dodger asked.

Al
glanced to Dodger and of all the incongruent things to do, the old man winked.
“I’m certain.” Al returned his attention to Kitty as he holstered his own
weapon. “The girl. We want to rescue the girl.”

“Done,”
Kitty said. She snapped her right hand, signaling the bulldog on the left side
of Dodger to activate his box.

The
crying came to an abrupt stop.

No! Boon cried, and his spirit left
the area.

Dodger
closed his eyes and breathed hard, trying to push back the urge to run after
Boon. Something deeper was at work here. Al wouldn’t just sacrifice the life of
one child over another, would he? Dodger opened his eyes again and glanced to
Al. Not a single tear stood in the old man’s eyes. He looked more excited than
upset, like he had won a prize rather than condemning the kid to an assuredly
terrible demise.

“Well?”
Kitty said. “Go get her.”

“You
won’t interfere?” Al asked.

Kitty
held up her hands. “My work here is done, honey. Sit with the kids, make you
chose, kill the loser. Those were my instructions.”

Al
didn’t wait any longer. He pushed past the redhead and ran down the right hand
tunnel. “Sarah! I’m coming for ya, hon!”

“Show’s
over!” Kitty called to the bulldog men. “Haul out!”

The
men started shuffling about, gathering their things, preparing to leave.

Holstering
Hortense, Dodger meant to follow Al, only to have Kitty grab him by the wrist
and hold him back.

“You
won’t win,” she said with a purr. “Rex can’t be stopped. He’s far too clever
and willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. I mean whatever it takes. Are you willing to do
whatever it takes?”

Dodger
could tell she was struggling not to giggle at it. “Now, admittedly, my friend isn’t
willing to do what is necessary if it means someone finding themselves in
harm’s way. But, you see, that is why he hired me. I have no qualms about doin’
what needs to be done.”

Kitty
drew closer to Dodger, glancing down the length of his body and back up again
as she groaned in approval. “You can still join the winning side. I’ll make all
kinds of room for you, honey.”

Dodger
pulled his wrist from her grip. “I am
on the winning side. The losers just don’t know it yet.”

“I’m
offering you a once in a lifetime chance-”

“I
know what you’re offering.” Dodger raked his gaze over her bumps and curves,
until he locked eyes with her again. “But I reckon I’ve had better.” It wasn’t
a lie. A man couldn’t travel the breadth of the world without sampling a bit of
her sweetest bounty. He just failed to add that, save for his unconscious
experience at the Desert Rose, it had been a number of years since that better
sample.

Or
any at all.

“Go
on, then,” she said. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”